


Haunt Us Still

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-05
Updated: 2010-11-05
Packaged: 2017-10-13 01:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Founders Day, everyone was expecting to be able to heal their wounds, get cleaned up and go on with their lives. For Jeremy Gilbert, this was going to be hard to do as his girlfriend had been one of the vampires killed by the hunters. Making the decision to swallow the vial of blood that Anna had given him and then swallow a bottle of pain pills should have made everything go away. Instead, he was disturbed by the sounds of fighting downstairs from his room. When he tried to help in the fight, Jeremy was knocked out, and when he came to, Elena was missing. Now Jeremy has only one choice to get his sister back alive. He needs to go and get the help of a Salvatore. Not Stefan. He goes to get help from Damon because only Damon will be ruthless enough to do what it takes to get Elena back alive. After all, Damon wanted Elena to be his and he loved her, and you don't mess with what belongs to Damon Salvatore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunt Us Still

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the TVD_BigBang 2010 challenge.

He was almost completely unconscious when he felt his eyes suddenly snap open. It wasn't a willing action, more like and instinctive response to something around him or in his vicinity. He didn't sense that he was in danger, per se, it was just like an itching sensation along his subconscious. He lay still in his bed for a moment, trying to figure out what it was that had disturbed him -- what had kept him from being able to completely erase his pain and have his link to Anna. Had it only been a few minutes that passed since he swallowed the vial of Anna's blood and followed it down will all of Elena's pills? Or had it been hours since he made that final decision and something was warning him that he needed to wake up?

As he lay there, staring at the ceiling and trying to puzzle things out in the fuzziness of his mind, he frowned. There was something very wrong about the house. It didn't feel right. (Feel right? Why was he thinking about how the house _felt_ of all things?) Trying not to dwell too much on why he could tell something was wrong, he sat up, his mind immediately clearing of any fuzziness it had been clinging to.

Something was very wrong.

He cocked his head to listen and he felt his forehead wrinkle in confusion. It sounded to him like there was a fight of some kind going on downstairs. But that didn't make sense. Who would be fighting like that in the Gilbert house? Before he could decide why exactly this was bothering him so much, he heard a quiet sound of pain. He knew that tone of voice. He knew the way she sounded when she was hurt but trying not to let anyone know that she was. Hadn't he listened to her try to hide her pain from him and Jenna enough times after the accident? The sound came again and this time he didn't hesitate. He was immediately out of his room and making his way down the stairs as quickly and as silently as he could.

It was a good thing that he had used caution coming down to lower level of the house because he wasn't prepared for the scene that he found in the kitchen. He faltered at the doorway as he tried to take a complete measure of what was happening.

Elena was bleeding. How he knew that it was her didn't matter, except that the person that she was fighting with looked exactly like her, but she didn't seem to have a mark on her. Seeing the blood on that one's mouth and the look in her eyes as she went after his sister again, his brain registered that this must be the Katherine that Elena had written about in her journal. The Katherine that was responsible for the vampires and the attacks and the reason that the police had killed Anna. Katherine, the reason that Stefan and Damon could never leave his sister alone and caused her to change so drastically and keep secrets from him. Katherine, the vampire that was now trying to kill his sister in the one place that she should have been the safest.

Anger was building as he looked around the kitchen to see if there was something that he could use to help his sister, and that was when he saw that their Uncle John was a bloody mess on the floor. He was surprised that he didn't feel more shocked about what he was seeing. He must have been the first one that Katherine attacked. While he was trying to figure out how Katherine had gotten into their house, his attention was pulled back to the fight between the women when the scent of fresh blood hit his nose. _Elena was bleeding._

Elena really didn't seem like she was doing very well against the vampire as they fought. She was moving a lot slower than usual and her face was paler than normal. He had to clench his jaw when he realized that she was probably weakening from blood loss due to the wounds he could see on her neck and on her shoulder. He was almost positive that she had other injuries that he couldn't see right now. He watched as Elena shoved her hair back to be able to see better and when he saw how much blood was smeared on her face from the action, he clenched his fists at his side.

Katherine, on the other hand, didn't look like she had been touched at all. Oh, he was sure that his sister had been putting up one hell of a fight when all of this started, but the only sign that she was in a fight was the blood on her mouth and the fact that her hair was messed up. In fact, she looked like she was doing nothing more than playing a game with his sister.

As he was examining Katherine, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Elena by the throat and swung her into the back door. The door flew open at the impact and he heard Elena drop to the ground outside. He didn't hear anything from her after that. He felt everything in him freeze momentarily as he waited to see what was going to happen. He waited and waited, but he couldn't hear any movement or anything from outside. There was nothing. Elena wasn't moving or making any sounds. That meant that she was probably hurt badly.

Something inside him snapped when he realized Elena wasn't getting up and coming back inside. Without stopping to think about his actions, he leaped at Katherine, anger making him reckless. She turned before he got to her and he felt himself propelled across the room. As his head connected with the wall and the room started fading away, he watched as Katherine walked out the door and to his helpless sister.

***

It wasn't as if Damon was sleeping, but the pounding on his door at four in the morning was still highly annoying. He became even more annoyed when he saw who it was.

"Go away before my sainted brother shows up to accuse me of picking on the poor misunderstood emo pain in the ass," Damon ordered when he opened the door. "Your kind of delivery boy isn't in my diet."

Jeremy shook his head and shoved past Damon and into the house. Damon stared outside for a moment before sighing and closing the door with a slight shake of his head. He turned, watching Jeremy stalk into the living room and followed him.

"Don't think that just because you're Elena's baby brother that I won't kick your ass for being a complete and total asshole." He paused, tilting his head. "Actually, with the shitty way that you've been treating her lately, that's a perfectly good reason for doing so."

"I need your help, Damon," Jeremy said as he turned to face him.

Damon laughed. "Well, you can't have it," he said as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "Although, I will admit to being very curious as to why you of all people would have the audacity to ask me for help with anything."

"For Elena."

"And I'm supposed to believe that you give a damn about the fact that you're hurting her and making her absolutely miserable?" Damon shook his head, starting to walk toward Jeremy. "I don't, and you can leave now."

"Damn it, Damon! Elena is in trouble!"

Damon froze in mid-step. "Excuse me?"

Jeremy sighed and looked Damon in the eye. "Elena's missing."

Damon shook his head, chuckling in disbelief. "Nice try, but I happen to know for a fact that she came home last night. In fact, she showed up as I was leaving from making you that offer. I said good night to both Elena and your Aunt Jenna." He looked at Jeremy and there was anger filling his eyes. "Don't you ever use Elena as an attempt to emotionally blackmail me again, Jeremy. I was trying to be decent to you last night because of your loss and I didn't want Elena hurting even more watching you go through it again. Do not mistake a moment's kindness for weakness from me. I mean it when I say that I will kick your ass if you do not stop hurting your sister by being a spoiled brat. She has done so much and risked so much to protect you and this is the thanks she gets." He narrowed his eyes. "Get out before I take you out."

"Katherine has Elena!" Jeremy yelled at him with real desperation in his voice and in his eyes. Quickly, afraid that Damon would toss him out, Jeremy blurted out everything that had happened in his kitchen earlier that night. "When I came to, John's body was missing and so was Elena. I don't even know if Elena is alive after the last time Katherine threw her through the door." He took a breath, but couldn't calm the tremor in his voice. "Damon, please! I know you hate me and think I'm an asshole, but I need your help to save my sister!" He was practically begging the vampire he hated to help him, but he was way past caring at this point. "Please," he repeated. "I lost Vickie and I lost Anna. I can't lose Elena, too. She's all I have left."

Damon was tempted to throw Jeremy out of the house on principle alone, but the pleading tone in his voice stopped him. Damn it, he was getting too soft around this place. At the same time he thought that, the realization that it hadn't been Elena who he kissed smacked him hard in the head. He should have known that something was off about that kiss on the porch. He should have realized that it hadn't been Elena in his arms. It wasn't in her nature to cheat on his brother -- no matter how much he wished otherwise. It angered him that Katherine had masqueraded as Elena and used him like that.

"What I don't understand is how Katherine got into the house," Jeremy's question broke into Damon's thoughts. "I thought you vampires couldn't go into someone's house without being invited."

That was a good question. How had...

"Jenna," Damon said. "Jenna told her to come inside. She must have thought she was Elena like I did." He hit the wall. "Damn that manipulating bitch!" He was trying to ignore the fact that he'd been too distracted to tell the difference between the human and the vampire. He didn't want to think about how easy it had been for Katherine to trick him.

"Jenna!" Jeremy said in horror, starting for the door. "I didn't even think to check and make sure Jenna was all right. She killed Uncle John, she might have hurt Aunt Jenna, too."

Jeremy was opening the door when Damon's voice carried to him.

"Why me? Why did you come to me for help instead of Stefan?"

Jeremy was silent for a long moment before turning to look at Damon. "Because I know that you'll be ruthless in getting her back. You'll do anything or tear apart anyone to protect her and get her back. I can't count on that kind of ruthlessness from Stefan." He looked at the vampire and shrugged. "I know you love her and it's part of your _wonderful_ personality that you won't allow someone to threaten or harm what you care about."

"And you're so sure of this, are you?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Why is that?" Not that he cared. He _would_ tear apart anyone he had to in order to get Elena back alive. She was his main priority now and the only reason he was still in this damned town.

"You threatened to hurt me because of how I've been treating her," Jeremy said in a shaky voice as he tried to keep himself pulled together. "You didn't lay off of me just because I'm her brother. Stefan never would have risked having Elena get pissed off at him for doing that."

Damon frowned at him. "You're not off the hook, Jeremy. I still might kick your ass for being such a dick when this is all over."

"I know," Jeremy nodded. "Just get her back, Damon. I don't care what you do in order to accomplish that. Just bring my sister back home before that bitch hurts her any more than she already has."

Damon watched Jeremy leave the house and went to the door to watch him walk away. "Great," he muttered, shutting the door. "I'm the emo boy's hero."

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. This was one of those things he had always worried about, even if he didn't voice it. He wasn't Stefan. Stefan voiced his worries and concerns, Damon didn't. Keeping quiet didn't mean the worries weren't there. He had been worried that the bitch would one day come here, he just hadn't thought it would be so soon.

Damon shook his head and moved upstairs to change into more suitable clothing for the work ahead. So Isobel had either not delivered his message to Katherine, or Katherine had ignored the warning. That would have been the first mistake the bitch made this time. The bigger mistake was in messing with Elena's family. That was bad enough. However, actually laying a hand on Elena and kidnapping her was going to be the last mistake that Katherine Pierce ever made in this existence. He would make damn sure of it.

You just never messed with what belonged to Damon Salvatore.

***

Elsewhere, Bonnie woke from a dead sleep with an almost soundless shriek. She quickly fumbled for the lamp next to her bed and the darkness was broken up by the dim light. Trying to calm her racing heart she looked around her room.

"Elena?" She whispered. "Elena?"

There was no answer, and she wasn't sure if she was relieved or even more scared than she had been before. It had been a dream, then. A very vivid dream, but a dream nonetheless. Swallowing hard, Bonnie ran her shaking hands through her hair and then got up out of the bed. Something had caused the dream. It could have merely been the events of the night, but she didn't think so.

She went to her window and looked down into her yard, but she wasn't surprised when she didn't see anyone down there. Leaning her forehead against the window, she closed her eyes.

"I could really use some direction here, Grams."

Sighing, Bonnie turned back to her bed and then gasped softly. There were feathers swirling around in the center of the bed. Feathers that hadn't been there when she had gone to sleep. Feathers that were spiraling...

 _Spiraling just like they had the day she had shared her secret of witchcraft with Elena._ Right before she had learned what kind of creatures really existed and that vampires were part of her heritage.

"Elena?" She whispered, reaching out to catch one of the feathers.

It wasn't possible that Elena was causing this show with the feathers. Elena was home safe in bed. She was sleeping like Bonnie should be doing and not trying to catch Bonnie's attention with dreams and feathers. After watching the feathers for a moment and trying to banish the memories of the dream, Bonnie sighed and reached for the phone beside the bed. She couldn't call the Gilbert house at this hour, but she could call Elena's cell phone. Elena would answer it, be a little grumpy over being woken up in the middle of the night and they would make plans to get together later to talk about everything that had happened that night.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Even before the voice mail picked up, Bonnie was shaking. There was no point in leaving a message, she could already tell that. Something was wrong because no matter what was going on or how late it was, Elena Gilbert always answered her cell phone.

Bonnie hung up the phone and stared at the pile of feathers that were no longer moving. "Elena," she whispered. "What's wrong? Sweetie, where are you?"

***

That was a question that Damon was also asking as he looked around the downstairs of the Gilbert house. Jeremy had told him that he didn't remember what it was that had awoken him from his sleep, but it hadn't been very loud. It hadn't disturbed Jenna and even now Damon and Jeremy were assured that she was sleeping safely in her room. The problem was with making sure that she stayed safe -- and unaware that anything was wrong. Jeremy wasn't certain how long they could keep her from finding out that Elena was missing, but Damon already had an idea for how to cover that for a little while.

That was why he was a little disappointed when he opened the back door to the Gilbert house and saw the witch already standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Bonnie demanded.

"You first," Damon said with his usual style. Truthfully, he wasn't in the mood to play another round of verbal chess with Bonnie, but it just seemed to come naturally with them.

"I asked you first," Bonnie snapped back at him.

"I asked him to come," Jeremy said from behind Damon. He looked over Damon's shoulder to question Bonnie. "What are you doing here?"

"Where is she?" Bonnie asked Jeremy, ignoring Damon for the moment. "Where's Elena?"

"She's not here," Damon said helpfully as he moved all three of them outside and closed the door. The last thing they needed was for Jenna to wake up.

Although she had realized that something was seriously wrong, Bonnie was frowning at the both of them and she repeated her question. "Where is Elena?"

"We don't know exactly," Damon said.

"What do you mean _exactly_?" Bonnie was so not in the best mood and Damon wasn't helping matters any.

"Katherine took her," Jeremy burst out.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Yes, why don't we give the vampire-hating witch even more reason to want to kill all of us before I can do anything to get your sister back safely. You really aren't the brightest bulb in this family, Jeremy."

"Shut up," Bonnie said before she looked back at Jeremy. "Katherine? What do you know about Katherine?"

"Only what he read in Elena's diary that he stole and then used against her to be a complete ass."

"I know she's a vampire and that she made Damon and Stefan. I know that she looks like she's Elena's twin sister." Jeremy ran a hand over his face. "She killed Uncle John and beat up Elena. I guess Elena was trying to protect me and Jenna --"

"Again."

" -- because why else would she try to fight a vampire instead of running or calling for help?"

"You mean besides the fact that Katherine could have ripped out her throat before she could have gotten one scream out?"

"Shut up, Damon," Bonnie said again.

"She wasn't doing too good and she was bleeding. I tried to help her but Katherine threw me into a wall and I blacked out. When I woke up again, well, Katherine and Elena were both gone -- as was Uncle John's body."

"I've never known Katherine to clean up after she eats," Damon said, shaking his head. "She was always a messy eater, so I wonder who started teaching her manners."

"Dude, you are so not helping," Jeremy complained as he looked from Bonnie to Damon.

"If a vampire kidnapped your sister, then why is there another vampire bastard in your house, Jeremy?"

"Now see, I'm offended. I am not a bastard. My parents were married before I was conceived. Words can be so hurtful and you should be careful with them." Damon knew that he probably shouldn't keep poking the witch, but he needed to focus on something besides what Katherine could be doing to hurt Elena while they were all here talking.

Jeremy stiffened and then looked at Bonnie. His eyes were full of defiance. "I asked him for help."

"You asked _Damon Salvatore_ for help? Damon, who doesn't care about anyone but himself. You asked him to help you find Elena. Have you lost your mind?"

"No, Bonnie. I haven't lost my mind. I've lost my parents, and two girlfriends and now my sister, but I haven't lost my mind." He glared at her. "Damon loves Elena and he's the only one that will be ruthless enough to get her back alive."

""He doesn't love anybody but himself, Jeremy!" Bonnie's voice was full of exasperation. I'm Elena's best friend and I have been for years. You didn't think to ask me before asking the one that caused all of these problems? Obviously since you've read Elena's diary you know what I am and who I'm descended from. You know that he's the one that has caused every death and every messed up thing that's happened in the last year. You _know_ that he's a killer. For god sakes, Jeremy, he killed Vickie! You know that from Elena's diary! How could you go to him for help?"

"That's not all he knows from reading her diary," Damon commented, ignoring Bonnie's death glare.

"You won't kill to get her back," Jeremy finally said. "Damon will."

"What about Stefan? Did you even think about asking Stefan to help rescue Elena instead of his psychopath of a brother?" Bonnie demanded, wanting to grab him and shake sense into him.

"Stefan won't do anything that would hurt anyone else in order to get Elena back. He won't attack Katherine."

"And Damon will? How do you know that?"

"Because he already threatened to kill her and her birth mother if they went after Elena."

Bonnie was speechless for a moment. "You threatened the love of your life and Elena's birth mother over Elena?" She cast a look of disbelief at Damon.

"One, Katherine is a bitch and she's not the love of my life. She never loved me as much as I loved her. I mean, I only waited 145 years so I could rescue her from a prison she was never in and never saw fit to tell me," Damon growled. "And yes, I told Isobel that I would kill her if she did anything to harm Elena." He unfolded from where he had been leaning against the door. "Now that we've made nice, why don't you tell us what you're doing here so early."

"I was worried about Elena."

"Why? You haven't exactly been playing nice lately."

"I saved your sorry ass last night," Bonnie reminded him. "I did it for Elena, because I knew she would be heartbroken if anything happened to you or to Stefan."

"No. You saved us because Elena was determined to go into that burning building after me and you didn't want her to _die_."

"Of course I didn't want her to die! She's always been my best friend and I love her and I just want her safe and happy. Safety is something that seems to have disappeared for her because of you and your brother."

"So don't try to paint yourself as my hero because we both know that had there been any other way for you to stop Elena from going into that building, you would have let me and Stefan burn."

"It would have been no more than you deserve!"

Jeremy had had more than enough of the arguing between the two people and he pushed his way between them. "Enough!" His voice was loud enough to startle the two combatants, but not loud enough to wake up Jenna. "I don't know what issues the two of you have with each other and right now I don't give a damn! My sister has been kidnapped by a psychopath and the only way we're going to get more than a dead body back is if we work together." He looked at Bonnie. "You're a witch, right? Is there any way you can get a feeling or something in the kitchen where Katherine and Elena last were?"

"You mean like a tracking spell or something?"

"No, he's asking if you secretly had Elena lowjacked while she was sleeping or something," Damon said mockingly. "Of course he means a tracking spell."

Bonnie glared at him. "If it wasn't for the fact that Elena loves you --"

Damon waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, yes, I know. You'd stake me and wouldn't feel a shred of remorse about it. Can we please move on now?"

Bonnie made a growling sound in her throat and looked at Jeremy. "I've never done anything like that, but I'll try." She pulled something out of her pocket. "What are you going to do while I'm doing that?" It was unclear whether she was asking Jeremy or asking Damon.

Jeremy sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I - I'm not sure. I hadn't thought much about planning beyond getting Damon." He wasn't ashamed to admit that he had no clue where they needed to go from here. "I didn't think further than that." He looked defensive. "I mean, it's not every day my uncle gets butchered in my kitchen and some psycho that looks like my sister kidnaps her."

Damon shook his head. "John's death is no great loss, considering if you knew what I did about him, you would have tried to kill him yourself. My focus is on Elena and only Elena."

"What the hell are you talking about," Bonnie said angrily. "That was his uncle, you ass."

"Yes, and his uncle is the one that killed his girlfriend last night." Damon snapped back at her.

"What?" Jeremy asked, confusion on his face.

"John Gilbert only went after one of us when he had us in that basement and was setting us on fire. He grabbed a stake and even though Anna begged him not to hurt her, he staked her. He didn't go after any of the others of us that were dumped in there, only Anna." He looked at Jeremy. "He killed Anna because she had the audacity to try to interfere with all of his plans and fall in love with his nephew. John didn't give a damn about anyone but himself so I wouldn't waste any time on mourning him. Karma and all of that. He killed Anna, Katherine killed him. The bitch actually did something good for once." He shrugged. "Although, I'm not sure why he didn't stake me when he had the chance, and now, again thanks to Katherine, we won't have a chance to ask him."

"And now she has Elena and if she isn't already dead --"

"--she isn't," Jeremy snapped at Bonnie.

"-- then she is currently probably being tortured by your ex-girlfriend."

"You really need to get laid," Damon muttered before looking at Jeremy. "Look, I'm going to go get Alaric. He'll help come up with something we can tell Jenna if we need to. He can also keep her safe while we're trying to find Elena. You need to go tell Stefan what's happened. I don't want to have to deal with any stupid accusations if we don't let him know what's happened with Elena and Katherine right away. A fight with him right now, though fun, would only slow us down." He looked at Bonnie. "Meanwhile, you can go into the kitchen and see if there is something witchy you can do in order to give us a clue as to where they might be."

There was something in his tone of voice that confused Jeremy and put Bonnie on edge. There was something that he wasn't telling them and Bonnie grabbed his arm. "You know something that you're keeping from us. What the hell are you hiding, Damon?"

Damon jerked his arm away from her. "I'm not hiding anything, Bonnie. But maybe you could answer the question of why the hell you showed up here so early looking for Elena. Most people would be sleeping at this hour -- Elena included." Bonnie glared at him and Damon sighed. "Look, all three of us want the same thing, and that thing is to get Elena back safely. I may not like or trust you, but I don't think you'd do anything to endanger Elena."

"Of course I wouldn't!" Bonnie was angry and insulted by that comment. "That's your hobby, not mine."

"Then why did you come looking for Elena?" Jeremy asked, looking at her for a long moment. Then he looked at Damon. "And what aren't you telling us?"

"You don't want to know," Damon muttered. "Trust me on that."

"I think I need to know, Damon," Jeremy said quietly. "Whether it's something I want to know or not. Right now, I need any and all information concerning what's going on."

Damon looked from him to Bonnie and shook his head. Finally he nodded at Elena's best friend. "You first."

Bonnie sighed. "I had a nightmare."

"A nightmare?"

"Yeah, but now I don't think it was just a dream. I think it was really Elena trying to contact me. She told me she was in trouble and then..." Her voice trailed off and she looked away from the two men.

"And then?" Damon prodded.

Bonnie looked back up and there was enough pain in her eyes that Damon almost felt bad for pushing her like he had. "She screamed. It was an awful sound," she said quietly. "I don't think I have ever heard something like that ever. Not even in horror movies where people are being killed by the villain in the movie."

Jeremy's face was pale. "Do you think..." He swallowed. "Is she still alive?"

"I don't know," Bonnie admitted, looking towards the house so she didn't have to see his eyes. "That sound she made..."

"Of course she is still alive," Damon snapped, trying not to think of what Katherine must be doing to her in order for Elena to scream like Bonnie was describing. "Elena is still alive and she's going to stay that way." He pointed at Jeremy. "You, Stefan." Then he pointed at Bonnie. "You, kitchen." He turned and started walking away. "I'll be back soon with Alaric."

It was only later that Jeremy realized Damon never said what it was that he was hiding from them.

***

Elena was pretty sure that even after the car accident, she had never been in this much pain in her life. She forced herself to open her eyes even though the movement caused more pain to go through her head. She was doing her best to not think about everything that happened, but when she flexed her hands and found that she was still tied up, it was hard to do. She wasn't sure _why_ Katherine had taken her as a prisoner instead of just killing her, but she was hoping she would be able to stay alive until someone could get here and take Katherine out. She closed her eyes again and took as deep of a breath as she could. She was scared and there was no denying that.

Last night had been a hell of a night. There had been the hunters activating the device and Stefan collapsing. After she had gotten him up, they had run to the building that Stefan was sure where Damon was being held. Uncle John -- her father -- had grabbed her and tried to keep her from following Stefan. She wasn't sure why he let go of her, but he had. When she got to the building, Stefan was already in there and when she tried to follow him, this time it was Bonnie that stopped her. She was aware of Bonnie saying something, but she couldn't hear exactly what she was saying. All she knew was that Bonnie wouldn't let go of her arm. Her friend only let go of her after Stefan and Damon came through the door, and then the building erupted into flames. When everything was finally at an end, she had come home, confused because her costume and jacket had turned up missing. After hanging up her phone, she had let herself into the house. Hearing a noise in the kitchen she had gone in there, thinking that it was Jeremy or Jenna. It hadn't been, and now she was in trouble.

A lot of trouble.

Earlier, she had tried to make her mind or spirit contact Bonnie. It had been a long shot, but since her best friend was a witch, it had seemed like something to try. If she could make contact with anyone, it would be Bonnie. Just when she thought that maybe it was working -- she could have sworn that Bonnie said her name -- but that was when Katherine had come back from wherever she had gone after dumping her here. Katherine grabbed her and she heard herself screaming as the vampire bit into her shoulder as hard as she could, and she felt those teeth tear a wound down her shoulder. Katherine was making sure that what she did caused Elena as much pain as possible.

"I just wish I knew why," Elena whispered to herself, then tensed as she heard the door open.

"Oh good, you're awake," Katherine purred as she came to sit down next to Elena on the bed. "You and I need to have a talk."

"A talk," she managed to repeat. "About what?"

"About my boys, and how your father tried to kill them." She smiled and reached out to gently smooth a strand of hair from Elena's face. "You and I are going to become very good friends. After all, we have so many things in common and we could be just like sisters."

Elena wasn't sure why that comment filled her with such fear.

***

"How long has she been missing?" Alaric asked as he gathered some things up and shoved them into a bag.

"Jeremy's not sure," Damon said. "He doesn't know how long he was unconscious after Katherine attacked him." He watched Alaric. "Can we hurry this up? I really would like to find Elena before she ends up as another one of Katherine's toys."

"Do you have any idea how much time Katherine might spend torturing before she finally gets bored and kills her?"

"She's not going to die!" Damon tensed and he turned around angrily. "I'm not going to let Elena die!"

"I never said you were," Alaric said, giving him a look that clearly said he thought Damon had issues. "I was only asking how much time you think we have to get her out of that bitch's clutches."

"I don't know," Damon said reluctantly. "She may spend lots of time playing games with her. There's also the chance that she'll torment her for only a short time."

"And then she'll kill her," Alaric said, zipping up his bag.

"Only if we're all lucky."

Alaric stopped what he was doing and stared at Damon. "What exactly do you mean by that? _Only if we're all lucky_?"

Damon sighed. "It depends on who Katherine is angrier with right now, us or Elena."

"Why does that make a difference?"

"It will mean the difference between Katherine killing Elena outright or..." His voice trailed off as he stared out the window for a long moment.

"Or?" Alaric grabbed Damon's arm, shaking him a little. "Damon! Or what? What do you think she's going to do to Elena?"

Damon turned and looked at Alaric, his eyes darker than Alaric had ever seen them. "If she's more angry at Stefan and I, she could decide to try to punish us by turning Elena into one of us. She may decide that Elena would make a nice toy for her." He growled. "She might decide it would be fun to have a Elena as her pet since they are mirror images and might be related anyway. Katherine has always had a sick sense of humor."

Normally, Alaric might have made a comment about understanding where Damon got his sometimes sadistic sense of humor, but he didn't. He was too busy trying not to think about what might happen to Elena -- and trying not to imagine the scenario Damon had just described to him. Knowing what he did about Elena, that would be worse than death to her.

"We need to get back to the house so I can talk to Jenna. Then we need to find Katherine."

Damon shook his head. "No," he said, his voice going cold.

"Excuse me?"

"You are not going after her, Alaric."

"Damon, have you finally lost what's left of your mind? That's _Elena_ that Katherine has. Elena! I'm not going to leave her to that bitch's plans. I'm not going to lose another friend and I'm not letting Jenna lose more family."

Damon stared at Alaric. "Your job is to stay at the Gilbert house and protect Jenna and Jeremy," he said, his voice hard. "We are not risking Elena's family." Elena would never forgive them if they rescued her only to find out that something had happened to her brother and aunt. She was rash and overprotective when it came to her family and he wasn't going to let anything happen to them and wind up letting her down even more than he already had by not protecting her.

"Damon," Alaric's voice was full of disbelief. "Are you suggesting we just give up on Elena?"

The look Damon gave him might have made any other man back away and apologize. He watched Damon try to struggle with his temper.

"If you never say something like that again, I will rip your throat out," Damon said. "I will never give up on Elena and if she dies, Katherine will wish she had never met me." Damon tossed Alaric's bag at him. "Now get to the Gilbert house before I forget you're almost a friend."

Alaric was getting a good glimpse of the monster he knew lived in most vampires, and he didn't want to be anywhere nearby if Damon lost complete control of himself. He nodded at Damon and headed out the door.

***

When Alaric got to the Gilbert house, he found Jeremy pacing outside on the porch. Through the kitchen window he could see Bonnie and Stefan. He wasn't sure what Bonnie was doing, but the look on her face wasn't encouraging. Stefan didn't look so good, but Alaric had to wonder how much of his distress was over Elena was missing and how much of it was over the fact that Katherine was back in town. He knew that both brothers had been attached to Katherine, but it was Stefan who admitted that he came back to Mystic Falls because of Elena and how she was the mirror image of Katherine.

And now, she had been kidnapped by his old lover. Who knew what shape she might be in right now.

Alaric shook his head as he looked back at Jeremy. "What'd he say?"

"Not much. I don't think he believed me at first. I guess he didn't think that Katherine would ever come back to town and when I told him that Elena was missing." He shook his head. "I don't know."

"Maybe he's in shock," Alaric suggested. "I mean, you did tell him that his girlfriend was missing. He knows now that she had been beat up and kidnapped by his ex-girlfriend -- who just happened to be the one that made him into a vampire."

Jeremy shook his head, kicking at the ground with his shoe. "Damon reacted more strongly about Elena being hurt," he finally said. "Damon was ready to go kill whomever he had to kill to get my sister back. Stefan. Stefan just got real quiet and followed me over here. The way both of them have reacted, Damon is the one who is acting like Elena is his girlfriend." Jeremy shook his head. "If you were to put their reactions side by side, you'd think that Stefan wasn't in love with her. But you know, even her _friends_ would have reacted more violently. Hell, Tyler would have had a more normal reaction than Stefan did."

"Why did you go to Damon first when you realized Elena was missing?" He had been curious about that and hadn't asked Damon. One look at Damon when he showed up at his door had given him plenty of warning that the vampire wasn't in the mood for answering too many questions.

"He loves her," Jeremy pointed out. "He hasn't ever said anything and no one would think so the way he usually acts. But he loves her. I've watched him and noticed that he gets really bent out of shape when she's upset or hurting and he can't fix it. When Isobel kidnapped me to make Elena get that device, well, Damon wouldn't have trusted anyone else with it but Elena. He wouldn't even give it to Stefan, but because Elena asked for it to save me, he gave it to her." He shrugged. "Stefan seems to be a good guy, but sometimes, I think he tries too hard to be the good guy. He tries too hard to be everybody's friend and be the good person he thinks he needs to be. Even now, he's talking to Bonnie and trying to figure out how he can get Katherine to just let Elena go -- even though we all know that asking isn't going to work in this situation."

"So you went to Damon because he's _not_ the good guy?" Alaric was trying to figure out Jeremy's reasoning and it was giving him a headache.

"I went to Damon because I know that he'll kill to get my sister back," Jeremy said bluntly. "He'll do whatever he has to do in order to rescue Elena and bring her home. I can't count on that from Stefan." He gave Alaric a hard look. "Stefan will try to play by the rules that Katherine won't play by. He'll try to placate everyone and protect both Katherine _and_ Elena. I don't care about Katherine getting out of there and I don't care about why she did this or her needing to be handled carefully. I could care less about Katherine or what happens to her. My concern is getting my sister back and that bitch who took her and is torturing her can go to hell."

***

Stefan watched Bonnie at the kitchen counter as she cut up some kind of herb. He didn't know what the herb was, but he could tell it wasn't Vervain, so he wasn't concerned about it.

"What are you doing," he finally asked her when she didn't speak to him.

"Cutting up herbs," she responded, not looking at him.

Stefan nodded. "I can see that part. What I don't understand is why you're cutting up herbs."

"Because Jeremy asked me if there was a tracking type spell I could use to find out where Katherine took Elena after they left the house. He's pretty sure that Elena was hurt badly and unconscious when she was taken away."

"Can you do something like that?"

"I've never done it before." She looked at Stefan. "But then again, my best friend has never been kidnapped by a psychopath before."

"Katherine isn't a psychopath."

Bonnie spun around and pointed the knife she was holding at him. "Don't. Don't you _dare_ defend that vampire bitch to me," she hissed, her eyes narrowing at him. "You forget, I know what she is and I know what she did and has done. I saw everything when Emily came to me, when she showed me what she had done to try and protect the people of this town. I _know_ what Katherine is and the things she's done. Right now, she has the girl who has been like a sister to me and she's doing horrible things to her that I can only imagine."

"You don't know that," Stefan tried to argue.

"I _do_ know that," she snapped. "Elena reached out to me from wherever she is for help and I heard the sound of her screams. A person doesn't scream like that when she's being talked to or treated well." She turned back to what she was doing. "If you want to talk about how poor Katherine is misunderstood and not evil, you can just go to hell. We don't need your help to get Elena back, and this would never have happened if you and your brother hadn't come to this town."

"Bonnie, I never would have wanted anything to happen to Elena. I love her and I would give my life to protect her." He said quietly. "You know that."

"Then why aren't you out there looking for Katherine and getting Elena back from her before she kills her?" Bonnie wouldn't look at him for fear that she would throw something at him and bring Jenna running. The last thing they needed was to have Jenna find out that Elena was missing. That would lead to all kinds of questions that none of them wanted to try answering right now. "Just leave me alone right now, Stefan. I have to focus on this because if I don't, then I start imagining what Elena is going through. When those thoughts come up, I realize that I have too much of an imagination sometimes. If I start thinking about that again, then I might forget that you're supposed to be our friend."

"Bonnie --" Stefan started and then sighed, shaking his head when she wouldn't look at him. He moved away from her, going to lean against the wall and watch her work. No matter what she thought or what she said to him, Stefan wasn't going to leave this room. Elena would never forgive him if he didn't make sure that her family stayed safe no matter what.

For now, he had to have faith that Elena would be okay. He had to protect her family so that she had someone to come home to. He wouldn't let her lose her brother or her aunt or the closest thing she had to a sister. He knew by now how Elena thought and right now, she'd be worried more about the lives of Jenna, Jeremy and Bonnie than about whatever danger she was in.

***

"Bonnie?"

The quiet voice startled her out of her thoughts, but it didn't surprise her as much as realizing _who_ the quiet voice was coming from.

"I'm kind of busy here, Damon," she said with some exasperation. "In case you've forgotten, I'm trying to put together some kind of spell so that I can track Elena or Katherine. I really don't have time for any commentary from _I'm Too Sexy For Morals_ right now."

There was silence for a moment as he processed her comment. "I realize that you're trying hard to focus, but I had a thought about something. Something that might be able to help."

Any other time, she would have made some kind of sarcastic or mocking comment about him actually thinking. However, right now, she was too worried about Elena. With a sigh, she turned around to look at him.

"What is it, Damon?"

"You have Emily's grimoire, right?"

"So?" It wasn't like it was a big secret between them.

"Is it possible to use one of the spells in there to create a type of defensive shield around the house and yard? Something that would keep Jenna and the rest of you safe if I'm not here." When Bonnie made a sound of impatience, he shook his head. "I know you're from a lineage of very powerful witches, but you're young and you're still learning what you can do." There didn't seem to be any sarcasm in his voice when he said that.

"Like what kind of shield did you have in mind?" Mentally, she was trying to flip through the pages in the grimoire and trying to remember if there was anything like that in the spells she had studied so far.

"Something invisible, obviously. It would need to be moved a few feet out from the house. We need something that would keep everyone safe as soon as they were to cross to a certain point." He looked at her. "I need --"

"You need what, Damon? And really, why should I give a damn about anything that you think you need? God knows you haven't given a damn about what anyone around you needs."

"Because I need to know that Elena's family is safe if we're not here. I won't be able to focus everything I am completely on getting Elena if I can't trust that there's a safe place for every one but the enemy to gather and plan. You know as well as anybody does that given the choice, Elena would sacrifice herself to protect her family. I'm determined to keep her from having to make that choice."

Bonnie was quiet as she stared at Damon for a long moment. Besides the fact that he had just referred to the woman he had done so much evil things for as the enemy, she was a little surprised as to how he looked. Usually, Damon Salvatore could be described as gorgeous or even as sex on legs. There was something always otherworldly about Damon and the way he looked -- even if you didn't know that he was a vampire. He didn't look anything close to that right now. He looked tired, and she hadn't thought that vampires could even look tired. As far as she recalled, they didn't sleep unless they were low on blood or they had been injured somehow. She never expected that she would ever see Damon looking less than perfect.

"I'd have to figure out how to work it so that you and Stefan could get through it and into the house," she finally allowed. "Some way to let you guys in and keep that bitch out."

Damon shrugged, but it didn't look as careless as she was used to seeing it. Damn it, she didn't want to start feeling sorry for him. She didn't want to do anything but hate him for causing everything that had gone so wrong since he showed up in town.

"It would be nice if you could do that, but if you can't, we'll deal. It's more important that we keep Katherine out of here and away from those Elena loves most."

"I won't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do."

Damon nodded.

If he had left it there, it might have been okay. She might not have gotten angry at him again. But he was Damon Salvatore and he couldn't just let something be.

"Bonnie," he said quietly. "I'm going to get her back."

Bonnie's jaw clenched and she turned back to what she was working on. "Don't make me any promises, Damon. I know that I can't trust your word -- not about anything."

She didn't hear anything, but when she turned to say something to him a few moments later, he was gone.

***

If it had been any other person that was going through this, they probably would have given up and died by now.

However, most people weren't Elena Gilbert. So, even when the pain got to be so bad that she wanted to close her eyes and let go, she didn't. She kept digging down and trying to find reserves of strength that she wasn't sure she had any longer. She would start to drift away and she would see images of Jenna and Jeremy and that would help her anchor herself. She couldn't let someone hurt them anymore than they had already been hurt. She couldn't allow Jeremy to lose somebody else in his life. No matter how he felt about her right now, she was still his sister and she knew it would hurt him if anything happened to her. She had to do what she could to protect him from more pain.

Her throat was sore from screaming before and the ropes that bound her arms and legs to the bed had long ago cut off the circulation. It didn't help that Katherine kept feeding on her until she was too weak to even move. Then, after leaving Elena mostly drained and helpless, the vampiress would then force her to drink blood from her.

Elena wasn't exactly sure _why_ Katherine was doing all of this, but she would bet a great deal that she was torturing her to try and hurt Damon and Stefan. That thought kept giving her fuel to feed her anger at the vampiress. There was nothing else she could think of as a reason that Katherine would kidnap her. She hadn't done anything to the woman, although she certainly had enough reasons to hate her and want her staked. Every time she thought about the look on Damon's face when he found out that Katherine wasn't in the tomb and never had been just fueled her anger all the more.

"It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't fallen in love with you, you know," Katherine said, separating herself from the shadows of the doorway and approaching Elena. "I could have forgiven them if it was just lust or if they just wanted to be close to you because you look like me. That would have been all right. If I had met you first and introduced you to them first and you all fell in love, that would have been all right, too. We could have been a beautiful and happy family. _My_ happy and beautiful family. Mirror images of perfection. We could have had anything we ever wanted." She tilted her head. "We still might be, but my boys have to be punished for betraying me first. They weren't supposed to go off and replace me. They were supposed to be mine and stay loyal to me. I expected that they would always have loyalty only to me, you see. They rarely had loyalty to each other after they died, but they were always supposed to stay loyal to me. I'm the one who gave them life, after all." She sat down on the bed and pulled Elena's head into her lap, looking down into her face.

Elena didn't want to point out that Katherine had _killed_ the brothers, so she remained quiet. She couldn't think of a comment that wouldn't incite the other woman's temper. She tried to move her head away from Katherine, but a hard tug on her hair stopped her.

"I didn't expect them to love you without me being there," Katherine continued, stroking Elena's hair as if she were trying to comfort her. "Especially Damon. He was always my blind soldier, so naive and protectively loyal when it came to me. I could get him to do anything as long as he thought he had my love."

"You broke him, betrayed him," Elena whispered, her throat hurting as she spoke. "He waited all of that time for you, trying to find a way to free you. He finally managed to do it, only to find out that you weren't there. That you didn't care. He did all of that and you weren't worth his devotion."

"What is time to people like us, Elena?" Katherine demanded, pulling a strand of hair until Elena had tears of pain in her eyes. "I made him. He owed me his loyalty and faithfulness. He did what was expected of him -- up until a point. He and Stefan have always been so different. My soldier and my sensitive boy."

"Damon isn't a machine, Katherine. He has feelings, too. He can be sensitive. You just pushed him beyond his limits when you betrayed him and his loyalty to you." She swallowed as she looked at Katherine, trying to be more defiant than she felt. "You killed that loyalty and devotion. No one else could have done the job as well as you did where Damon is concerned."

Katherine tilted her head as she looked down at Elena. "You're in love with him," she said with delight in her voice. "You're in love with _Damon_." She brought her face down close to Elena's. "Oh, Elena. We are going to have so much fun."

***

It took Bonnie a few days, but she finally came up with a stockpile of spells that she thought could help the situation they were all in. The downside of this was that there had been no way to keep Elena's disappearance a secret from Jenna -- much less John's death, and they had all had one hell of a time convincing her that the police really couldn't help in this situation. However, the big surprise came after Jenna was calmed down and accepted a world with vampires in it. It was Jenna, who after asking to see Emily's grimoire, had helped Bonnie rewrite a few of the spells to become what they needed.

"I studied alternative religions on college," she had said by way of explanation when everyone had been surprised by her actions. She then glared at Damon and Stefan. "If anything happens to her, I will do my damnedest to kill you both."

No one doubted her determination on that, or the fact that both Jeremy and Alaric would be paying for ages over trying to keep all of this a secret from her.

"Okay," Bonnie said, finally, Jenna leaning against the counter in the kitchen as the four men looked at them. "We've come up with a couple of things. First of all, I managed to put up a shield around the house and a few feet beyond into the yard." She handed both Stefan and Damon a piece of opal. "As long as you keep these somewhere on yourselves, then you should be able to get through the shield. It may still have a bite to it, but I can't guarantee what will happen to you if you try to get through the shield without them."

Jenna straightened up from her slouch. "Bonnie and I have come up with a tracking spell that we think should work. I'm going to stay here behind the protections to work as an anchor for Bonnie and she's going to do the spell." Her tone said that although she didn't like the idea of letting the teen do the dangerous part of the spell, she realized that Bonnie had more experience than she did.

"Jeremy should stay here with her," Alaric said. "That way, they're both safe."

"That's a good idea --" Stefan started to agree.

"No."

Everyone turned to look at Jeremy in surprise.

"Jeremy I don't think that you should go out there," Bonnie said quietly. "If anything happens to you or Jenna..."

"I'm going," Jeremy said firmly. "All of this time, all of the things she's done, Elena has been the one trying to protect both me and Aunt Jenna. I'm her brother and I should have been helping her, but instead when I found out everything, I made it worse. I'm not staying here safe while everyone else risks their lives to get my sister back. I'm going with you, Bonnie."

Every one looked at Jenna expecting her to say something to disuade him. "We're Gilberts and Sommerses," she said finally, looking at Jeremy, who gave her a faint smile. "We don't like leaving others to fight our battles." She turned to stare hard at Alaric. "If you don't bring him back..."

"I will. I promise."

"Someone needs to stay and protect Jenna," Stefan said. "We can't all go and leave her alone here. What if Bonnie's protective spell fails?"

"It won't fail," Bonnie growled.

"I don't need somebody to protect me," Jenna said at the same time. "I have faith in Bonnie's shield. I have also ingested plenty of vervain and I'm wearing enough of it to give any vampire who tries to bite me a stomachache." She smiled humorlessly. "Plus, I have a gun."

"Bullets won't kill Katherine," Stefan cautioned. "Damon, say something."

Damon just smiled his cocky smile as he looked from his brother to Jenna. "No," he said quietly. "Bullets won't kill her, but bullets soaked in vervain will do a hell of a number on her and slow her down so Jenna can get to safety if she needs to."

Stefan stopped trying to argue. If there was anything he had learned from dating Elena, it was that the Gilberts were very stubborn people. He wasn't going to be able to talk sense into them so long as Damon was backing up their crazy ideas.

As they followed Bonnie outside, Stefan pulled Damon aside. "If anything happens to her, it'll be on your head."

Damon rolled his eyes. "How is it going to be my fault this time, Saint Stefan?"

"Because you encouraged the both of them when you know how dangerous this could be!"

Damon shook his head. "Stefan, why did you come into that burning building to get me?"

"Because even though you may be an idiot or an asshole, you're still my brother."

"I'm touched, really," Damon drawled. "That's the same reason that I couldn't do anything to discourage Jenna or Jeremy. They're Elena's family and they have a right to make their own decisions about their safety."

"Damon, they're _human_!"

"I had noticed that," Damon said quietly. "Look, I already tried arguing with both of them and Jeremy helpfully pointed out that I had no right to keep them from going after his sister. When I stopped arguing with them and started working _with_ them about all of this, it became a lot simpler."

"How?" Stefan demanded. "How could doing anything that will endanger them become a lot easier for you?"

Damon had to restrain himself before he tried to knock some sense into his brother. This was not the time, not when Elena was in danger and relying on them. "When I stopped trying to fight them on their decision, I was able to get them to listen to more of my suggestions about their safety. Who do you think gave Jenna the idea of soaking bullets in vervain or putting it into everything she and Jeremy consumed?" He shook his head. "That's always been your problem, Stefan," he said low enough where no one else would hear them. "Being so determined to protect everyone instead of teaching them to fight for themselves is how people get killed." He sighed. "You would think that you would have learned that by now."

***

The group ended up following Bonnie to a spot in the woods and Damon let out an angry curse. Stefan was surprised to hear it, because as far as he knew, Damon had forgotten his Latin a very long time ago. When he recognized where they were, he was just as unhappy about it. He should have known that they would end up coming back here.

"Where are we," Jeremy asked, not understanding why it was upsetting the Salvatore brothers so much.

"It's where the tomb was," Stefan said quietly. "Where all of the vampires were trapped for all of those years."

"Anna's mom."

Stefan nodded. "And Katherine, or so we thought."

"Yeah the bitch was never there," Damon said in a toneless voice. "She let us... let me believe she was trapped and I worked for years to get her out."

Alaric shook his head at Jeremy to keep him from asking any more questions that might set Damon off.

"Why do you think we were led here," Alaric asked quietly.

"Because this is the one place she could have kept Elena where no one from the outside would hear her screaming," Bonnie said flatly. "It would be easy for her to render Elena helpless in there while she went out hunting or whatever terrorizing she was doing."

"So where is my sister?" Jeremy demanded.

"She's in the tomb," Damon said coldly. "Katherine is playing games with our heads. She knows that Elena would hate the place after what happened to her there, and she knew that I wouldn't be exactly pleased by her chosen prison."

"Damon," Alaric cautioned. "We need to get Elena out of there and then you can deal with Katherine."

He nodded and headed towards the tomb. "Alaric, stay with Jeremy and Bonnie."

Alaric nodded, and shook his head at Jeremy. "You'll have your chance to make it up to your sister. Let them do the worst part of it first."

Jeremy didn't like that, but what could he do? Alaric was stronger than her was, and the moment he tried to move towards the vampires, one of them would have him back to safety. He was standing and watching everything that was going, and that's when he heard the soft cry off in the trees.

He turned towards the sound and he heard the cry again.

"Help me," the voice said. "Please help me."

"Elena?" He whispered, stepping towards the shadows. "Elena, is that you?"

As soon as he had said Elena's name, both Stefan and Damon were at his back.

The girl that limped out of the woods certainly looked like he had last seen his sister. Her face was bruised from being hit, and her shirt was stuck to her neck and shoulder from where she was bleeding. The shirt and jeans were torn and dirty from fighting and whatever might have happened to her since then. To anyone watching Jeremy, even though she didn't look right, he was obviously relieved to see her.

"Jeremy? Why are you here? You're supposed to be safe at home." Her voice increased in tone, from either worry or from displeasure.

"I couldn't just stay at home when you're out here hurt and missing. We've all been worried about you." He tilted his head and stepped towards her. "We should get you to a hospital. You don't look so good." Jeremy was completely focused on his sister as they spoke to each other.

"No, no hospitals. I'm okay. I'm just tired and am in a lot of pain. Jeremy, can you just take me home?" She winced as she pushed her hair back from her face. "I just want to go home."

"Of course." Before Jeremy could put his arm around Elena and pull her close to him, Damon yanked her away and Stefan got in front of Jeremy.

"Nice try, Katherine," Damon said shaking his head. "Trying to use compulsion on Jeremy. Shame about the vervain."

"Hmm, he he's better than I thought he would be. He really seemed to believe that I was his sister."

Jeremy made a rude noise and shook his head. "You may look like my sister, but I knew immediately that you weren't her. Your eyes weren't right."

"Why try with Jeremy," Alaric asked.

She gave him a feral smile. "I needed to get blood for Elena somehow. Her brother seemed a very good choice since she feels so guilty about everything that's happened to him." She gave Jeremy a smile. "Poor Elena, alone and dying and all she could think of was who was going to protect her baby brother after she was gone."

"You haven't killed her," Jeremy snarled at her, his fists clenching at his sides.

"Oh, little child, have my boys been giving you false hope about the fate of your sister? That wasn't very nice of them. They know better than anyone that I don't keep my toys alive very long. You all get so boring." She bared her teeth at him. "Although, I'm thinking that I might have to keep her around for a little while."

"Where is Elena?" Bonnie demanded. "What have you done with her?"

"Aw, the little witch." Katherine's eyes flashed with distaste. "I should have killed your line a long time ago. All you have does is cause trouble."

"Then give me back my friend and get the hell out of our town before I show you what trouble really looks like." Bonnie challenged her.

Katherine leaped at Bonnie, but Bonnie raised her hand and a crack sounded in the air. Katherine went flying backwards, right into Damon who caught her and then slammed her down on the ground. He knelt down over her, holding a stake in his hand.

"Now, Katherine," Damon said evenly. "You are going to tell me where Elena is and that she is alive, or I'm going to kill you."

"You won't kill me," Katherine said with a purr in her voice. "You'd never be able to hurt me as long as I wear her face."

"She wears it better than you do." He showed her his teeth. "I will kill you if you don't tell me where she is."

"No."

"No?" Alaric was surprised. "Damon is ready to kill you if you don't tell him where Elena is."

"Why should I tell him where his girlfriend is?" Katherine demanded petulantly. "I think she and I could have so much fun together. You don't see many vampire twins. We'd be quite a team." She grinned. "It's every man's fantasy to be with twins, Damon. I know that you're no different. You're my favorite hedonist."

"I'm not _your_ anything. Where is she, Katherine," Damon pressed the tip of the stake against her chest. "I'm not bluffing. I will kill you." His eyes bored into hers. "I have nothing to lose by doing so."

"You'll lose your precious _Elena_ ," she mocked. "You kill me and you will never find her or her body."

Damon had to fight to banish the image Katherine was putting in his head of a lifeless Elena. It wasn't true and he wasn't going to let it become true. He could feel a new rage causing tension in him and as he looked down at Katherine, he bared his fangs. " _Where is she?_ "

She glared at him and her mouth dropped into a less attractive pout. "Go to hell, Damon."

"I'm already in hell, Katherine. You made sure of that." He raised his arm to slam the stake down into Katherine, but he suddenly found himself flying through the air. He hit a tree and when he righted himself with a growl, he saw that it was Stefan that had thrown him off of Katherine. Katherine, the little bitch, was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell was _that_ about, Stefan?" His voice was low and dangerous as he approached him.

To the other three watching, Damon really did look like he was about to commit violence on his brother. At that moment, the three watching couldn't find it in them to blame him. They could have killed Katherine and rescued Elena and Stefan had ruined that. At least one of them was convinced that if Elena wasn't already close to death, then Stefan's actions had just guaranteed that it was more likely that something would happen before they could rescue her.

"I couldn't let you kill her, Damon. We need to get Elena back and not get immersed in taking revenge over past slights." Stefan tried to reason with him. "We need her alive."

"Is _that_ what you think I was doing, you idiot? I was going to kill her to keep everyone safe and then we could get to Elena." Damon reached for Stefan and threw him into another tree, then stood over him. "For every wound that bitch gives Elena now, you'll get double from me. If she kills Elena, I will kill you and Katherine both, Stefan."

"You can't kill her," Stefan said, sitting up. "You love her. She made you."

"No, I don't, and I've been paying for that for the last hundred or so years." Damon said coldly, his hands curling into fists. "I stopped loving Katherine a long time ago." He stared at Stefan. "You told me before that Elena is not Katherine, Stefan. It looks like I'm not the one who has been confused about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if you get in my way of finding Elena again, I will kill you both. That's a promise you can count on, brother." There was no doubt that Damon meant every word that he was saying.

Stefan got up from the ground, shaking his head slowly. "Elena doesn't belong to you, Damon. You can't go around acting like she is."

"She sure as hell doesn't belong to you!" Damon roared back. "You're too afraid of getting your hands dirty and tarnishing your suffering saint image to do anything to get her back! If you really loved her, nothing would be keeping you from rescuing her!" He waved his hand. "Elena is out there somewhere, hurt, bleeding, possibly even dying and you don't care enough about her to tear apart this town to find her!" His voice turned into a growl. "Well, I do, Stefan. I care about her enough that I will kill anyone that I need to that gets between me and getting Elena back alive -- even you."

"Damon, Elena is my girlfriend. I love her and I will --"

"Oh shut up, Stefan. You've never belonged to Elena and you love some fragile image of her that you have on a pedestal in your mind. _That_ Elena doesn't exist. You don't even know the real Elena and she doesn't belong to you."

"My daughter belongs to herself, and maybe one day, when she feels safe again, she'll decide to share herself with the one she feels worthy of her -- like the one that is willing to kill for her."

Damon's shoulders tensed, but he didn't turn around, his eyes were still fixed on his brother. Finally, it was Alaric's shocked voice that broke the silence.

"Isobel? What are you doing here?"

Isobel turned to look at Alaric, deciding to stay out of the fight between the Salvatore brothers for time being. "My daughter is missing and probably being tortured, Alaric. I came to get her back."

This time, Damon did turn around and look at her. "You forget that I know your loyalties, Isobel. They damn sure don't include Elena."

"Oh don't be so stupid, it's not a good look on you," Isobel snapped. "Who do you think gave John the device to destroy the tomb vampires?"

Jeremy started to step forward, but Alaric and Bonnie stopped him. "You're the reason Anna is dead!"

"Katherine was going to have it done no matter what. John just stepped up the timetable." She looked at Jeremy. "I can only assume that he killed your girlfriend for the same reason the Salvatore brothers were supposed to die that night with the others."

"And what reason was that?" Bonnie finally found the question she wanted to ask the woman who had first abandoned Elena, and then tormented her by striking out at her friends in order to force Elena to get her what she wanted.

"To protect Elena from them. I never wanted this life for her, and I assume John felt the same way about his nephew. He had the ability to make sure that his daughter and nephew were safe all at once." She looked at Bonnie. "And then you had to get involved. You should have stayed out of it and let these two die. Elena wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if it weren't for them."

"Are you forgetting that you came to me and asked me to make you one of us?" Damon's voice was still cold.

"That doesn't mean I want my daughter to become one, too. And I definitely never wanted to see her repeating Katherine's mistakes." She shook her head. "However, she's no Katherine, and I'm very glad of that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stefan asked. "You were pretty blunt in telling her that she wasn't as good or as smart as Katherine the last time you saw her."

She gave Stefan a dismissive glance and then looked back at Damon. "It means that we have a damn good chance at getting her back alive." She turned to walk away and then stopped. "Oh, and by the way, Damon?"

"What?"

"You're wrong."

"About?"

She looked over her shoulder. "If Elena dies, you can kill your brother, but Katherine is mine. Elena is _my_ daughter and I'm the one who'll kill the bitch that harms her. I'll meet all of you back at the Gilbert house."

Isobel had disappeared into the shadows by the time Jeremy found his voice again.

"Uncle John is Elena's dad?" Then he looked at Alaric. "Jenna is not going to be happy to see your wife here."

"Ex-wife," Alaric and Damon both said at the same time.

***

Surprisingly, after a bit of initial bristling around each other, Jenna and Isobel found that they were able to handle being around each other. Jeremy commented that it was probably more due to their shared love for Elena and less for their ties to Alaric.

For his part, Alaric told Jeremy to mind his own business.

Now, however, the group of seven were sitting in the living room of the Gilbert home while new plans were made. While they were discussing what to do, Bonnie's cell phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she excused herself and went into the kitchen. Damon watched her go, then he turned back to listen to the discussion in the living room.

"How can we be sure that she's still alive," Stefan finally asked, putting into words what no one else had been willing to.

"She _is_ ," Jeremy insisted angrily.

"Jeremy, we don't know that."

"I know that," Jeremy said, glaring at Stefan. "I would know if she was dead or whatever you vampires are. She's my sister."

"Technically, she's your cousin," Isobel said from where she was looking out the window. "She's John's daughter and he was your father's brother."

" _Sister_ ," Jeremy said again. "She's more my sister than she is your daughter."

"Jeremy," Jenna warned him quietly. "Don't."

"No, Aunt Jenna, I won't be quiet because I'm right. I read all about how Elena found out that she was still alive and that Isobel was doing her best to keep her from finding her. I know that she's the one who hurt Matt -- and she's also the one that kidnapped me to force Elena to get that stupid device from Damon. I know that she's the one that gave it Uncle John so that he could try to kill all of the vampires that were in Mystic Falls. She's as much to blame for Elena getting hurt as Damon and Stefan are."

Isobel turned from the window, her eyes angry. "And you've been such a stellar brother to her since your parents died, haven't you? She covered for you with the drugs, tried to protect you from everything that was going on and even tried to remake the world for you so that you wouldn't suffer the pain of any more loss in your life. And how did you repay her? You shunned her and treated her like shit, even when she still continued to risk everything to keep you safe. I may be a shitty mother, Jeremy, but you're an even shittier brother."

"Oh both of you shut up," Damon finally said. "You can play Family Feud later. Right now, we have to figure out where Elena is being held and get her back. I don't care what you two do after that, but she is our first priority!"

Before anyone could respond to that, Bonnie came back into the room. When everyone looked at her, she sighed. "Matt knows."

Alaric shook his head. "Bonnie, you didn't." Everyone had different looks of surprise or disapproval on their faces.

"I didn't tell him there were vampires, no," she said defiantly. "But he was pissed because Elena and I haven't come to the hospital to be with Caroline -- as we would have under any other circumstances. I couldn't lie to him because he knows that there was no way that we wouldn't have been spending the night there until she wakes up. She's our best friend and we wouldn't let anything keep us from her side."

"What did you tell him?" Jenna asked curiously, reaching across the table in order to squeeze her hand. Jenna at least understood why she had done it.

Bonnie sighed. "I told him most of the truth. I told him that Elena had been kidnapped that same night and that you hadn't reported it to the police of Mystic Falls because Elena's life was threatened if you do. I also told him that you had been contacted by the FBI and there was special agent here working the case." She nodded her head at Isobel.

"That was quick thinking, Bonnie," Stefan murmured. "It also makes sure that he stays safe at the hospital with Caroline instead of being out looking for Elena and making himself a big target."

"That's good since it wouldn't be the first time that someone has hurt Elena's friends to hurt Elena," Damon said caustically as he looked at Isobel.

Alaric looked between the Damon and Isobel. "What is he talking about?"

"It doesn't matter right now," Isobel said, brushing his question off. "What matters is retrieving Elena."

"We just have to find her," Jenna said quietly. "Bonnie, do you think you're up for doing the tracking spell again?"

"She won't need to," Damon said, getting up from he had been sitting. "We already know where Elena is." When everyone looked at him he gave them an impatient look. "Oh come on, guys. Elena is still trapped in the tomb."

"But Katherine knows we tracked her there," Alaric argued. "She would have moved her."

Damon shrugged, shaking his head. "No, because she knows that is what you guys will think. She thinks since we tracked her there once that we won't think to do it again."

"He's right," Stefan admitted quietly. "Katherine wouldn't make more work for herself. Easier to just keep Elena there and watch us all scramble trying to find her."

"Well let's go get her then!" Jeremy said heading towards the door.

Isobel got to the door before him. "You, are not going."

"The hell I'm not. I'm going and you can't stop me."

"I can and I will," Isobel said glaring at him as she reached for him. "You're breakable and are staying here. We don't have the time to look after you."

Before Isobel could lay a hand on him, she felt a hand on the back of her neck and she was jerked back. "You touch him, Isobel and I will kill you myself." Damon's voice left no room for doubt.

***

 

In the end, it was decided that Jenna, Alaric and Bonnie would stay back at the Gilbert house. Alaric would be the muscle and Bonnie the magic in order to make sure the house stayed a safe refuge. Jeremy was going with the vampires because nothing Stefan said would convince him otherwise and Damon kept siding with him against them. Finally Stefan threw his hands up in the air.

"Fine. If he gets hurt, _you_ can explain it to Elena, Damon!"

Damon didn't even look at him. "He won't get hurt."

Damon was quickly losing patience with Stefan, but he was determined that he wasn't going to pick a fight with him until all of this was over. His primary focus was rescuing Elena, but after that, he was going to have a long _talk_ with his damn brother.

***

When they arrived, it seemed to Jeremy that it was just too easy to get into the tomb. Damon explained that it wasn't hard for them to open the tomb now because it was no longer sealed with a witch's spell. Once they were inside, the smell of blood hit Damon first and he turned, following the scent until he found a corner that had a bed against the wall. He didn't have to look to know who was bleeding on that bed.

He would have reached for her, but Stefan was there at the same time as he was, and it was Stefan that reached down picked up Elena, cradling her against him. Damon had to tamp down the jealousy he felt, but he let the rage move freely through him when he realized just how battered Elena was for her to be smelling that much of blood. She hadn't shed that much blood even when she wrecked her car.

And then, all four of them heard the words that would forever change everything.

As Stefan held Elena, she relaxed into his hold, seeming to let go of whatever she had been holding onto to keep herself holding on to consciousness while a prisoner of a sadistic vampire.

" _Damon, I knew you'd come for me._ " She murmured, sighing as she lost consciousness completely.

To give Damon credit, he didn't relish in either the pain or the resignation that passed through Stefan's eyes. Even when Stefan gestured that he would hand Elena over to Damon, he didn't say anything to mock his brother or anything that would make him feel worse. He would have taken her, but then he stiffened, his eyes going black.

"Get her out of here," he growled, turning to face Katherine who had arrived and been waiting to blindside one of them.

Damon and Katherine just stared at each other for a long moment. Damon could hear other movement going on around him in the tomb, but he blocked the voices out.

"Well, haven't you become the sweetest little knight in well worn leather," Katherine finally broke the silent stand-off with her mocking comment. "It sounds like you managed to steal Stefan's girl -- _again_ \-- and led two more people to their deaths. You have had a busy day, my little soldier."

Damon didn't change his expression. "No one else is dying here, today, Katherine," he said flatly. "There's been enough bloodshed and terror in this town and it ends _now_."

"What are you going to do," she asked with a laugh. "Kill me? We both know that Stefan will never let you do that. After all, you've stolen two girls from him now. How does it feel, Damon, to always get your little brother's seconds? First me and now Elena? You'll always know that he came first and you'll always wonder if she's comparing you to him."

"Shut up, Katherine," Isobel said, stepping to Damon's side.

The only surprise Katherine showed to seeing Isobel there was a slight widening of her eyes. "Isobel. Is there a reason you're here with the boys instead of doing something useful?"

"My daughter was supposed to be off limits, Katherine." The other female vampire said coldly. "Any issues you had with Stefan and Damon were not supposed to involve Elena. When you changed the rules and kidnapped her, I changed the rules, as well."

***

Katherine was reacting a little too calmly about this whole situation for Stefan's liking. Something was really wrong with this scene and he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. He carried Elena towards the opening of the tomb, making sure that Jeremy followed. Once outside and next to the car, Stefan carefully placed Elena in the back seat, and then grabbed Jeremy, shoving him towards the front of the car.

"Get in the car and drive, Jeremy."

"What?"

"Do as I say," Stefan said firmly as he pushed Jeremy into the driver's seat. "Drive as fast as you can and get Elena out of here. Whatever you do and whatever you hear do not look back and do not stop until you get home."

"Stefan, what's going on?"

"Don't argue with me, just get yourselves out of here. _Now_ Jeremy!"

Jeremy wanted to argue with Stefan because he could tell that whatever was about to happen was going to be really bad. He didn't want to leave any of them behind, but the sight of his sister in the rear view mirror stopped him from arguing. Elena was bleeding badly and he needed to help her first. As much as he might owe Damon or want to help him, his responsibility was to his sister. If he had to choose, it would always be Elena over _any_ of the vampires. If something went bad for them, well, he would feel badly about it, but not as badly as he would if his sister died.

"Take care of yourself, Stefan," Jeremy murmured as he started up the car and started driving away.

He was only halfway home when he heard the explosion. It was later said that the whole town saw the fireball that went up from the location of the old tomb.

***

 

The funeral for John Gilbert was a simple one. The story making the rounds of Mystic Falls was that he had been killed when trying to prevent the kidnapping of his niece. Jenna and Alaric had agreed that it was for the best if he was remembered as doing something good in his last moments. After all, no one outside their small group needed to know exactly what kind of man John was.

"Besides," Jenna had said softly when they were making arrangements. "We don't know that given the choice at the last minute that he wouldn't have chosen to try to protect her. He was willing to kill to protect her before."

As for Jeremy, he had a few unresolved issues towards John, but even he had decided that there was no reason for them to come to light. They were things that he would find a way to deal with in his own time.

Luckily for them, they hadn't needed to come up with an explanation for the authorities about why the old tomb had blown up. When the fire and smoke had finally cleared enough for the fire department to go into it, there was no evidence of anything having been there. There were traces of wires and things, so they theorized that the serial killer had planned to blow up the tomb with Elena in it and claim another victim. When Jenna, playing the concerned guardian had asked why Elena had been targetted, the police had explained that it was all random chance.

 _"Maybe he saw your niece somewhere and decided that he wanted her for some reason. He blew up the tomb to send her off in a memorable fashion so that no one would ever forget what he had done."_ Because, after all, the serial killer had to have been a male.

"How is Elena?" Matt asked Jeremy, falling into step with him as they left the cemetary.

"We think she's going to be okay," Jeremy assured him. "Her wounds are slowly healing and Bonnie keeps making sure she sleeps." That was Jeremy speak for the fact that Elena hadn't regained consciousness yet.

"You guys should have told me the truth, you know," he said. "We've been best friends since we were kids."

"Maybe, but you had Caroline to pay attention to. Besides, would you have believed us?"

"With everything that I've seen, probably. It sure answers a lot of questions about some things."

"And leaves even more questions on others." Jeremy sighed. "How's Caroline?""

"She's doing much better. She's anxious to get out of the hospital and be with Elena." He shrugged. "She thinks that Elena should be in the hospital, but she says she understands why the FBI insisted on private care for her. It's not every day she learns that her best friend helped in the apprehension of a serial killer and almost became a victim herself."

That part of the story had been Jeremy's idea when he realized that people would find it strange that Elena wasn't in a hospital with the condition she was in. He had argued that there was no way they could explain away some of the wounds she had and a hospital would be too much of a risk.

Jeremy nodded. "Tell her to take care of herself first, because that's what Elena would want her to do."

"Has there been any news about Damon or Stefan?"

Jeremy shook his head. "No. It's been over a week. If they survived whatever happened at the tomb, they would have been in contact with us by now -- if only to check on Elena."

"You think that Katherine killed them?"

"I don't know what to think, Matt. I think that Stefan knew there was a chance of that happening when he put Elena and I in that car."

"What about Damon?"

Jeremy shrugged. "I think that he would rather have died than allow Katherine to live after what she did to Elena. If it meant that he would die, too..."

"Damon never struck me as the martyr type."

"You didn't see him, Matt. You didn't see what kind of state he was in when he realized Elena was missing. Stefan was all calm and collected, but Damon..." He shook his head. "Man, he was inches from going off the deep end. When we found Elena..." He swallowed. "I hope no one ever looks at me the way he looked at Katherine."

"You really think he cared that much about Elena?"

"He loved her, Matt. He loved Elena every bit as much as I loved Vickie, or Anna." He sighed. "He may not be the type of guy any of us would want for my sister, but I no longer have any doubt about how much she meant to him."

"Well, at least you know it wasn't just Elena that cared, then." Jeremy had told him about what Elena had said in the tomb when they found her.

"No, not just Elena," Jeremy agreed quietly.

They walked in silence for a long moment. "Are you all right, Jeremy? You seem different?"

Jeremy stopped and looked at Matt. "I have to be, Matt. What happened to Elena happened because she was too worried about looking out for me and not for herself. I'm not going to let anything like this happen to my family ever again."

"It wasn't your fault, Jeremy. Elena wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"It was partially my fault, Matt. I know that and I accept it. I'm just not going to let it happen again."

Matt was quiet as he watched Jeremy go to be with Jenna and Alaric.

"No," he finally said. "I don't think you will."

***

It was the end of the second week since everything had happened and Elena's family -- including Alaric and Bonnie -- were sitting in the downstairs living room. The room was mostly quiet except for the usual sounds that were heard from people in a room when the news wasn't good. There was a great deal of quiet breathing and shifting around in their seat.

"Nothing has changed and it's been two weeks," Jeremy finally burst out. "She's not getting better. We need to take Elena to a hospital so they can help her."

"And tell them what, Jeremy?" Bonnie asked him. "She lost so much blood and was hurt so badly. They'll want to know why we didn't take her in sooner."

"And they won't buy the idea of private care when we have no physician to back it up," Alaric pointed out quietly. "They could arrest us all and then who knows what would happen to Elena."

"We have to do _something_ ," Jenna stressed. "Bonnie's magic isn't helping and neither is anything else that we've managed to come up with. Her condition hasn't changed and I'm scared for her."

"If we don't do something, she's going to die and then everything that happened was all for nothing." Jeremy said, getting up and pacing the living room. "Stefan and Isobel dying, Damon sacrificing himself to save her, it will all have been for nothing!" _And then she'll never know how much I love her and regret what I did to her._

"What do you suggest we do, you guys?" Bonnie asked tiredly. "I don't know why she's not waking up and I don't know why nothing I try is working." She sighed. "I wish Grams were here, or hell, another visit from Emily would really help. Then maybe we would know what Elena _needs_."

"She needs blood," a quiet voice that no one expected to hear again said suddenly, causing all four of them to jump. "She needs our blood."

Jenna found her voice first. "Isobel! Where the hell have you been? We thought you were dead."

Isobel gave her a snarky smile. "Wishful thinking, I'm sure." She shook her head, looking from Alaric and then back to Jenna. "There were some things that needed to be taken care of -- loose ends to be tied up." It takes some time even for a vampire to heal from wounds cause by fire, after all.

"Where's Damon?" Jeremy demanded.

"He's outside making sure everything is safe." She looked back at Jenna and Bonnie. "I don't think we was sure if he would be welcome or not."

"Of course he is," Jeremy jumped up to head outside. "He saved my sister."

Jenna watched him go and then shrugged at Isobel. "I can't argue with Jeremy on that, can you Bonnie?"

As much as Bonnie wanted to argue for keeping Damon Salvatore away from Elena, she really couldn't say anything. He had risked everything to rescue her best friend and he had done his best to make sure that the person causing them so much pain would never hurt anyone again. "I guess not," she finally said. "He seems to lover her, and she loves him." She shook her head and then looked at Isobel. "But if he kills any innocent people here ever again, all bets are off and I will destroy him."

"I'm sure you'll try," Isobel said sweetly as she headed for the stairs. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my daughter needs me and it's past time that she woke up."

***

When Isobel let herself into Elena's room, Damon was already there. He was sitting on the bed next to her head and stroking her hair.

"I didn't realize how much she did mean to me until I lost her," he murmured, not looking up. "I knew I loved her, but I didn't realize how much she's a part of me."

"And now you know," Isobel said as she sat on the other side of Elena. "You realize that as her mother, I am obligated to tell you that if you break her heart after all of this, I will gut you and laugh as you turn to ash, right?"

Damon was quiet as Isobel bit into her wrist and then started forcing the blood into Elena's mouth, massaging her throat so that the girl would swallow it.

"I don't know how to do this, Isobel," he admitted.

"Do what?" She was paying attention to her daughter and the fact that even though it was weak, she was starting to swallow on her own.

"Be a boyfriend," he said. "I don't know how to do all of that romantic gesture junk. I'm not Stefan."

"No, you're not Stefan," Isobel agreed. "You're Damon and that's who she loves. For god's sake, Damon. Don't turn into a simpering idiot on her, just be yourself. After all, that's who she fell in love with." She cocked her head, relief in her eyes as Elena started to lose some of the deathly pallor in her skin. "Stefan was puppies and kittens and Hallmark cards. Nice, but so very boring after awhile. Elena was a fragile doll, someone he put on a pedestal to be protected. She doesn't want to be protected like that. She wants to be equal in the relationship, and I think you can handle that. You're fire and passion and cockiness all wrapped up in a tight leather jacket. You _live_ and experience the world around us. That's what she needs. That's what I want for her in a man."

"She always has seen something in me worth saving and worth keeping around."

"Then respect the faith she has in you and don't let her down." Isobel was quiet for a long moment as she watched Elena. "Have you found anything?"

Damon shook his head. "No. There's been no sign of either one of them. Everything that was in the tomb is ash and I wasn't able to tell if Stefan and Katherine were among them."

"Jewelery?"

"None. It may have been hot enough to melt even those."

"You couldn't have saved him, Damon. He made the choice to go back in there. He knew that there was no other way out, and he chose to go back in to try to save Katherine. He made that choice, not you."

***

Bonnie was sitting outside on the porch swing, allowing herself to relax for the first time in weeks. Elena was back and she was safe. They had managed to rescue her and now she was upstairs sleeping. Sleeping, not comatose. Damon and Isobel both said that now that she'd been given blood, she was healing at an accelerated rate. Now, they just needed to let her sleep as she had been through a lot.

Matt had called her earlier and Caroline was also doing fine and had finally been sent home from the hospital. When Elena was up for visitors, she was to call them. Jeremy was doing better emotionally after losing Anna, and now that he knew his sister was going to be all right, Bonnie thought he'd eventually be okay. Alaric and Jenna were closer than ever after this and Bonnie knew that Elena would be glad to her aunt happy with someone that valued her like Alaric did.

"I need a favor."

Bonnie jumped. "Damn it, Stefan. I'm going to make you people start wearing bells."

"Sorry," he shrugged. "I figured that since you still had the protective spell up you wouldn't be startled."

"Guess again." She sighed. "What do you need, Stefan?"

He held out his fist and when she held out hers, he opened his hand to drop two rings and a pendant into Bonnie's hand. All three had Lapis Lazuli stones in them and Bonnie recognized them as being similar to the rings that he and Damon always wore.

"What's this," she asked him suspiciously.

"I want you to give them to Elena and her family," he said quietly. "They'll protect them."

"Protect them from what, Stefan?" She looked at him and her eyes narrowed. "Katherine."

"Until I see a body, I'm not going to believe that Elena is safe, Bonnie. I'm going to keep looking and stay vigilant." He sighed. "The necklace was Anna's and I think it should go to Jenna. The small ring was Pearl's and the men's ring was John's."

"You think she'll come after Elena again?"

"If she's alive? Yes, she will. Katherine was never one to bow out gracefully. With both Damon and I declaring our love for Elena, she'll want to make us all suffer." He sighed. "The stones won't protect them if the deaths are from natural causes, but they will keep them alive if anything supernatural tries to kill them."

Bonnie closed her hand over the jewelery, already deciding that she was going to add fresh spells to the ones that Emily had created so long ago. She wasn't going to go through almost losing her best friend again.

"I couldn't find another witch yet to make you one," he explained. "But then I realized that you probably already have something from Emily that works the same way. I know it would kill Elena if anything happened to you or Caroline."

"There's not one here for Caroline."

"No, but I was going to ask you to make something for her."

She nodded, looking at him. "Have you talked to Damon about any of this?"

Stefan shook his head. "No. Damon thinks I died in the explosion and I think I'll be good to him and let him think that for awhile."

"How is letting him believe you're dead helping him in any way?"

"It will let him get used to the fact that someone actually picked him over me for once," he said truthfully. "I was going to leave anyway, when I realized how much he did love her. When she called for him in the tomb..." He shrugged. "Death is a much better at providing closure, don't you think? Besides, if I told him there was a chance that Katherine was still alive, he'd want to go out seeking vengeance. That would hurt Elena and leave her alone and I can't have that."

"You're an idiot," she said quietly.

"Maybe, but Elena has been through enough pain and I'm not going to stick around and add to it. You know her best, Bonnie. She wouldn't want to hurt me and she would stay with me even though she loves Damon."

"She loves you, too."

"I know she does," he nodded. "But I'm not Damon."

"Take care of yourself, Stefan."

"I will," he promised. "I still love Elena, and I'll be watching over her... just this time from afar for a little while."

"Try not to be too much of a stalker," Bonnie warned with a smile in her eyes.

He shrugged.

"Stefan," Bonnie asked him as he was turning away. "What happened at the tomb? Why did it explode?"

He sighed. "Apparently Katherine decided to wire the tomb with enough explosives to outfit a small army. I'm assuming that her plan was to blow up Elena with the tomb -- and anyone who happened to be there to rescue her. I smelled the dynamite before I picked Elena up, but I didn't realize what I was smelling. It wasn't until I realized how calmly she was taking Damon turning against her that I recognized what I was smelling and understood what she had done."

"She was going to kill herself?"

"I don't think that was part of the plan. I think she had a safe escape somewhere in the tomb. Seeing all three of us there to protect Elena threw her off-balanced a little bit."

"Katherine Pierce was never exactly balanced," Bonnie said dryly.

Stefan smiled slightly. "In any case, when I dragged Damon out of there, I had to go back in to find her and make sure what happened to her. A side tunnel protected me when the explosion caused it to cave in," he said, anticipating her next question.

"I still say you're an idiot."

"Maybe," he acknowledged. "And if anything happens where you need my help, or Elena is in trouble... well, I'm sure you know or can find ways to contact me. If you need it, I'll be there."

"And if Damon destroys Elena?" Bonnie demanded.

Stefan shook his head. "He won't, Bonnie. You didn't see his face when we found Elena. I realized then that something would die in him if we lost her. He won't do anything to cause her pain. Not now."

"I don't trust him."

"You don't completely trust me, either," he pointed out. "Besides, do you honestly think that Isobel is just going to disappear from Elena's life again? Keeping the girl happy has a more serious meaning when your in-law is immortal, too. She'll make Damon suffer more than anyone else possibly can if he doesn't treat Elena right."

She smiled slightly. "Don't stay away too long."

Stefan shrugged. "I'll be gone as long as it takes."

Bonnie watched him walk into the woods and shook her head. "You're still an idiot."

***

Damon Salvatore didn't like feeling helpless.

It wasn't something he had felt much since becoming a vampire, but over the last few days, that was very much how he had felt.

 _Helpless._

Logically, he knew that Elena had been through a lot and her body was repairing itself as she slept, but that didn't help the worry he felt for her. It was a concern that wasn't going to ease up until he saw her open her eyes and look at him.

He wasn't sure what all Katherine had done to her, but it had taken a lot of Isobel's blood for her to start healing. He was just glad that she had still been alive to heal. He had been almost positive that they were going to find Elena dead -- or worse.

Of course, hearing Elena call to him in the tomb had been a pleasant surprise, and it had fueled his determination to kill Katherine for everything she had done. Now more than ever, Elena was _his_ and you just didn't mess with what belonged to him.

He had been willing to kill for her, and then Stefan had disappeared with her and Jeremy. When he came back into the tomb, Damon and Isobel had already been fighting with Katherine and he wasn't aware of the fire that had started. The next thing he knew, everything hurt and Stefan was putting him on the ground next to Isobel. He watched Stefan run back to the tomb and that had been when the world exploded around all of them. Seeing what was left of the tomb after it had cooled down, Damon had to admit that Isobel was right when she said that no one could have survived...

"Damon?"

Hearing Elena's voice, he turned from the window to see that her eyes were open and watching him. He moved quickly to sit on the bed next to her.

"Hey," he said quietly, brushing her hair back. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she said, leaning her head against him. "You found me."

"Of course I did," he said, letting his voice fill with a playful arrogance. "I will always find you."

"Jeremy?"

"He's safe and not as annoying as he was." Damon smiled down at her. "He helped me rescue you."

"He did?"

"Yes. He couldn't be kept from it. Your brother is an idiot sometimes, but he loves you."

"John is dead, isn't he?"

Damon nodded. "He was dead before she even attacked you," he assured her. "You protected Jeremy and Jenna, but there was nothing you could have done to save him." He was quiet for a second. "We told Jenna everything, by the way. She took it pretty well, but she may still yell at you for keeping secrets and risking yourself like you have been."

"It was for good reasons," she protested.

"Some how, I don't think she would agree with you. She was really scared for you."

Elena was quiet for so long that Damon thought she had fallen asleep again. He moved to get up so she could rest, but her whisper stopped him.

"I should be dead."

"No." His voice was firm as he tightened his hold on her. "No, never Elena. I wasn't going to let someone take you from me."

Two tears slid down her cheeks. "She kept telling me how she was going to kill me and leave my body for you guys to find," she whispered. "Then she would change her mind and tell me it would hurt you more if she made me like you and we could be killer twins for all eternity." She shuddered, and Damon pulled her close to him so that he could rest his head on hers.

"Sssh. It's okay. You're safe now, Elena. I won't let anything happen to you ever again."

She buried her face in his chest as the tears started coming faster. "She was more angry at you than at Stefan. You were supposed to always be loyal to her and I got so angry at her for talking about you like that. I wanted to kill her, Damon, and when she realized how I felt, she wanted to _hurt_ you."

"It's over," he murmured into her hair. "It's over. She can't hurt you -- or me -- ever again, Elena. She's gone. You're safe."

He held her tightly as she cried. He hated seeing her in pain and every tear she shed seemed to cut him. All he could so to help her was hold her and rock her gently. He wanted the chance to kill Katherine all over again for the pain she had caused Elena. While she cried, Damon changed their position on the bed so that he could lay down and hold Elena in his arms. He knew she would be more comfortable laying down and that was at least one thing he could give her right now.

"Stefan's gone, isn't he?" She whispered in the midst of her tears.

He nodded. "He saved my life, Elena. He knew how much we loved each other and he pulled me out before the tomb exploded." He tightened his hold again at her fresh round of tears and he wished he could cry with her. He and Stefan hadn't always gotten along, but they had still been brothers. He would never have wished him to die that way.

"He went back in for Katherine," Elena said quietly some time later. "He died trying to save Katherine."

"What?" He listed his head slightly so he could look down into her face. "What makes you say that?"

"Because I know... knew Stefan. He would have wanted to save her because he couldn't just her to die, not when she created you and him. He would have wanted to try to redeem her or make her face justice or something." She sighed tiredly. "Katherine... she couldn't have been redeemed, Damon. I know you love her but, what she was... what I saw..."

"No," he corrected her. "I don't love her, Elena. It's you. It's always been you for a very long time now. It took almost losing you to realize just how important you are to me." He laughed sarcastically. "I came here wanting to destroy this place." He was aware that he was repeating what he had originally said to Katherine, but he didn't care. The words had been meant for Elena and he was damn sure going to make sure she knew. "Somehow, I found myself wanting to protect this town and the people in it. It's all because of you. Because you saw something in me worth saving."

She smiled faintly. "Are you trying to seduce me, Damon?"

Damon laughed. "No, my dear. If I was trying to seduce you, it wouldn't be with some stupid speech about you saving me." He leaned down to kiss her. "I do have an image to keep up, you know." His lips were a breath from hers when he added. "When you're better and allowed to be up and about, I'll show you all about seduction."

"Is that a promise?"

"Elena, it's a solemn vow."

Their kiss was soft and gentle, both of them a little bit unsure about how everything was going to work out. However, after a few moments, it deepened and neither one of them could decide who changed the flavor of the kiss first.

However, it was Damon who reluctantly broke the kiss and pulled his head away from her. "Rest, Elena. You need to rest and to heal. I'll still be here when you wake up. Go to sleep and heal."

It was the last time he would use compulsion on her, he promised them both as she started to fall asleep. Tomorrow, while she was sleeping, he would fine her vervain necklace, or he'd get another one for her. He wanted her to know for sure that what was between them was real and not anything near a compulsion. For once, he was glad that it was Isobel who had used blood to heal Elena. There would be no assumptions from anyone that they loved each other just because of the blood they had shared.

Damon sighed as he held Elena against him and looked out the window. He'd ask someone to search the tomb again, because until they found a body, he knew that the memory of Katherine would haunt Elena -- and perhaps him as well. He wanted Elena to be able to rest easy and not have fears or worries about anything like what she endured happening again.

"I'll take care of her, Stefan," Damon said, turning to look out the window at the moon that was rising. "I promise you. I'll take care of Elena and I'll keep her safe for as long as I exist."

He turned back to lean his head against Elena's and closed his eyes, content to listen to her breathe as she slept.


End file.
